Traverse rods of many designs have been known for many years and have normally been operated by cords placed externally of the traverse rod for convenient manipulation by the operator with said cords extending into the traverse rod for actuation of the drapery in response to such manipulation. Such arrangements are well known, have been so known for many years and are used in a wide variety of circumstances.
However, in the application of such traverse rods to use in public places, such as motels and hotels, this type of traverse rod has been generally unable to withstand the rough usage to which it is frequently subjected by the traveling public and hence has been unsatisfactory. Hotel or motel guests may often pull directly on the draperies to open or close the same resulting in the jamming or breaking of conventional traverse rod mechanism. Then with such mechanism jammed, or if same has previously been jammed for this or other reasons, a subsequent attempt to open or close the draperies by pulling directly thereon will often tear or otherwise damage same. Attempts by hotel or motel management to maintain conventional traverse rod operating mechanism in good working order is often prohibitively expensive in view of the rapidity and frequency with which same can be and are broken, jammed or otherwise damaged by the traveling public and failure of the hotel management to keep same in good repair not only is highly annoying to subsequent guests but further aggravates the likelihood of tearing or other damage being imposed onto the draperies.
This problem has been long recognized and some attempt has been made to meet it by eliminating the cord operation of such traverse rod and using merely a baton fixed to a carrier for the drapery for effecting traversing of the draperies upon proper manipulation of the baton. This eliminates the problem above mentioned with respect to cord controlled draperies but presents other problems.
Among these other problems, there is first the fact that the baton is normally suspended from the master carrier of the traverse system and hence behind the drapery. This prevents most hotel guests from being aware that the baton exists and hence they will still manipulate the drapery by grasping the leading edge thereof and pulling directly thereon.
Secondly, even when the guest does discover the presence of the baton and utilizes same, he very commonly because of the geometry of the system pulls at least somewhat transversely of the traverse rod at the same time he is pulling along the traverse rod. This transverse force tends to twist the conventional master carrier in the traverse rod which again makes same difficult to move and may in an aggravated case jam it entirely.
One example of a previous attempt to meet this problem is U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,002 to James A. Ford, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, wherein the baton is releasably fastened to a master carrier and arranged for release therefrom in the event of side force applied from the baton to the master in excess of a predetermined maximum. This, while an improvement over the previously known art, still does not fully meet the problem at hand.
Another attempt to meet this problem has utilized an inverted U-shaped member mounted on a master carrier designed to resist side loading with said member extending above and across the drapery to connect with and support a baton on the room side of the drapery. This places the baton where the user can see it but it applies force from the baton to the master through a long and somewhat devious route and utilizes a somewhat unsightly connecting member. Further, this approach limits the height of the drapery with respect to the supporting rod. Thus, the use of batons in previously known ways has thus far failed to solve the problem.
In many other instances the problem is dealt with by providing a relatively heavy drapery which can stand the abuse of being grasped directly for the opening and closing of same but this often requires a drapery material which is otherwise unnecessarily heavy and therefore expensive. Further, even if such material is used, it does not eliminate the possibility of a side thrust being placed onto the master carrier with consequent excessive friction and possible jamming.
Accordingly, the objects of the invention include:
1. To provide a simple cordless system for opening and closing draperies suspended from a traverse rod which will be easy to operate and will minimize the danger of damage to either the drapery suspending means or to the drapery itself. PA1 2. To provide apparatus, as aforesaid, utilizing a baton and employing means for mounting same in direct connection to a master carrier associated with the traverse rod but with such mounting being in a position that the prospective operator can readily see it and recognize its use. PA1 3. To provide apparatus, as aforesaid, in which a baton is mounted on the front side of a drapery but connected through the drapery solidly to a master carrier on which the drapery is supported. PA1 4. To provide apparatus, as aforesaid, in which the carrier is designed for resisting transverse loads placed thereon without generating excessive additional friction between such carrier and the traverse rod track. PA1 5. To provide apparatus, as aforesaid, which is readily adaptable to a number of different specific traverse rod designs together with a number of different specific drapery suspension means. PA1 6. To provide a traverse rod operating means, as aforesaid, which can be readily applied to a number of presently existing traverse rods with a minimum of change in components and which further, if protection against side thrust can be dispensed with, can be applied to virtually any traverse rod suspending system. PA1 7. To provide apparatus, as aforesaid, which will be extremely simple and therefore inexpensive to manufacture and equally simple and therefore inexpensive to apply and utilize. PA1 8. To provide apparatus, as aforesaid, which will be durable, capable of long trouble-free use and whose manner in use will be obvious to virtually any hotel or motel guest.